The aforesaid copending application, Ser. No. 07/104,093, discloses a fishing rod and reel assembly wherein the reel is laterally offset towards the crank side of the reel, which improves user grip comfort and mechanical advantage by reducing the lateral grip distance from the palming side of the reel to the buttgrip of the rod handle.
The copending application also discloses an upward force-resistant inclined surface on the top of the palming side of the handle which improves the fisherman's ability to engage, resist, and control leveraged upward rod forces acting on the handle. Such upward rod forces are the result of downward forces on the rod tip caused by fish and lure action acting through a lever arm extending from a pivot point in the area of the reel seat outwardly along the rod tip.
The spinning rod and handle construction disclosed herein is directed to improving the ability of the user to effectively hold the handle and reel seat of a spinning rod in such a way as to counter and control both upward and downward forces acting on a spinning rod handle when casting and fishing with a spinning rod and reel.
The spinning rod problem is that the fisherman's hand grip on a spinning rod handle must counter both upward and downward forces while simultaneously holding the buttgrip, the reel seat, and the line extending from the front of the spinning reel.
A spinning rod is a lever and the pivot point of the lever is located in the area of the user's hand grip on the reel seat. In the act of using a spinning rod, upward and downward forces are exerted on the user's hand from the spinning rod lever. Upward forces are exerted against the user's palm on the top of the buttgrip; downward forces are exerted against the user's fingers on the bottom of the reel seat, and upward forces are exerted against the user's thumb on the top of the reel seat.
The problem is that the user's index finger must be free to manipulate and control the line extending from the front of the spinning reel, and as a result the user's index finger cannot always grasp the handle, and the user's other finger's and thumb have to counter the upward and downward forces. The problem with existing spinning rod handles and reel seats is that they make inadequate provision for the manner in which the user's thumb and fingers contact a spinning rod reel seat, and for the shape, location, and angular disposition of the user's thumb and fingers when they grasp a spinning rod reel seat. The outer surface of the user's fingers and thumb are curved, and little or no provision is employed in current reel seat design to accommodate finger and thumb curvature where they contact the top and sides of a spinning rod reel seat, and engage fishing rod forces.
Traditional spinning rod reel seats are generally symetrically formed in the hand grip area with no provisions for the eccentric contours and force-engaging needs of the user's grip on the reel seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,129 to Capra shows the hand grip on a spinning rod reel seat, and in particular the thumb and large finger location and their angular disposition but shows no reel seat contouring to accommodate such a grip. The Capra patent addresses force problems on spinning rods with a rear portion of the buttgrip which is formed to fit against the user's arm, but the Capra design shows no provisions of any kind for upward and downward force exerted from the reel seat on the user's thumb and finger's which grasp the reel seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,826,852 to Wardrip also shows the user hand grip on a spinning rod reel seat. Wardrip shows finger indents on the bottom area of the reel seat but the finger indents show no angular disposition. The top and sides of the Wardrip reel seat design provide no contouring of any kind for the lateral position of the user's thumb and it's contact against the top and side of the reel seat area.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,631,853 to Brackett et al addresses fishing rod force problems and discloses a buttgrip forward portion and a rear reel seat segment which merge together in the form of a laterally outward protrusion; but that patent discloses no lateral offsetness or contouring on the reel seat segment of a spinning rod where the user's thumb and large finger grasp and contact a spinning rod reel seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,376 to Brackett et al addresses upward force problems on fishing rods and discloses laterally offset buttgrips, a laterally offset rear reel seat segment, and buttgrip cross sections that are canted and have a contoured recess. Finger-gripping recesses are also disclosed on the underside of the butt grip and reel seat. However, again, there is no disclosure of contouring or lateral offsetness on the portion of a spinning rod reel seat where the user's large finger and thumb grip the reel seat. Neither Brackett patent '853 nor any known prior art discloses contouring of any kind on the reel crank side of the reel seat.
Design patent Ser. No. 300,167 to Andreasen shows a cosmetic contour, on the side of the buttgrip of a casting rod handle, which appears to be in the form of finger indents having some angular form. Andreasen's design is only on the side of the buttgrip portion of the handle and he discloses no contouring or form which would add comfort or mechanical advantage to the top or bottom of a fishing rod handle where the user's grip encounters upward or downward fishing rod forces. Andreasen's casting rod buttgrip has no application to a spinning rod reel seat and in particular to the spinning rod problems addressed by the disclosed invention regarding the lateral location of the user's thumb on the forward portion of a spinning rod reel seat.
The spinning rod, handle, and reel assembly disclosed herein have been specifically contoured and constructed to meet the fisherman's need for an improved spinning rod reel seat so as to resist upward and downward forces with the thumb and large finger on the top, bottom, and reel crank side of the reel seat.